More prose than poetry, but Dublin write their own script

Dublin 1-15 Mayo 1-14: In the battle of pragmatism and poetry, there was only going to be one winner. And Dublin it was.

The margins were fine, the difference slim but the one point that separated these sides may as well have been 20 times that for all Mayo cared as it increased their distress to despair. For all Dublin cared, it didn’t matter as long as it read in their favour.

It might be considered Jim Gavin emulated Brian Cody. Just as Walter Walsh and Kieran Joyce had claimed replays man of the match awards having not started in the drawn matches of 2012 and ’14 respectively, it was Michael Fitzsimons who came out of the blue to claim the award Saturday. That view, though, would overlook how disappointing Paddy Andrews and Paul Mannion were having come in for Bernard Brogan and Michael Darragh Macauley.